OAKLAND — After being on the sidelines for the last couple of years, the A’s jumped back into the international baseball pool Saturday, signing a highly touted player out of Cuba, Lazaro Armenteros, and the son of former American League MVP George Bell, among five players.

Director of Pro Scouting Dan Feinstein said the A’s had been following Armenteros since long before he defected from Cuba and went to Haiti before winding up in the Dominican Republic.

And while Feinstein agreed comparisons between Armenteros and another Cuban, former A’s slugger Yoenis Cespedes, weren’t unwarranted, he said “when I first saw him, I saw a young Frank Thomas.”

Armenteros, ranked as the fourth-best international prospect this season by MLB.com, is seen by the A’s as playing a corner outfield position, hitting with power and possibly being in the middle of the batting order at some point in the future.

“He is probably the most physically imposing young player we’ve seen in a long time,” Feinstein said. “It’s a rare combination of size and strength from a player this young. As far as his actual skills, his offensive qualities abound. He has tremendous bat speed and a discernible eye at the plate. He has as much power as you’ll see. He also runs very well for his size. He has enough tools to make an impact at the major league level.”

In addition to Armenteros and Bell, the A’s signed two Dominican shortstops, Yerdel Vargas and Marcos Brito, and a Dominican center fielder, Kevin Richards.

The A’s first saw Armenteros at the Under-15 World Cup tournament in 2015 and Feinstein described that as the moment the club decided to follow him.

“It’s impossible not to get excited when you saw a 15-year-old outperform the world at that tournament,” Feinstein said. “We’ve followed him aggressively ever since.”

At that tournament, Armenteros had a slash line of .462/.611/.962 with 10 walks and eight strikeouts in 36 plate appearances.

Armenteros is 6-2, 195 and just turned 17 on May 22. He and the other four players have to pass physical exams either in Arizona or the Dominican Republic, and all five will work out at the A’s complex in the Dominican this summer. They will both play ball and take part in the organization’s cultural immersion program to prepare them for life in the U.S.

Following that they will migrate to the club’s instructional league in Arizona this fall.

With Armenteros getting an estimated $3 million to sign, the A’s went over their allotted salary bonus pool for the year. Oakland is liable to be charged a 100 percent overage tax by MLB and won’t be eligible to sign any players for more than $300,000 in the next two international signing periods.

Feinstein said it was deemed worth it by the organization, both because of the level of talent available this year and because a number of high-spending clubs were not eligible to compete this year, having gone over their international bonus pool money in the past.

“We had a renewed emphasis on procuring as much of this talent as possible in what was somewhat of a distressed market,” Feinstein said. “We liked this market and we made the decision this would be the best year to make this kind of splash based on the talent that became available.

“It was certainly advantageous that a number of teams were ostensibly restricted from signing the top international talent. So we felt this was kind of a unique opportunity for us.”

Feinstein was excited about the incoming international class as a whole and didn’t want the other four players overlooked because of Armenteros.

Bell, 16, is listed at 6-2 and 170 pounds, but Feinstein said the son of 1987 MVP George Bell “is already a large man” and added the club was “certainly intrigued by the blood lines that he has.” Bell has been a third baseman, but the A’s see him playing one of the corner outfield positions down the line.

Vargas and Brito are both 16-year-old shortstops, with Vargas “having a very advanced bat for his age” and Brito being “a gifted defender at shortstop.” In Richards, a Dominican center fielder, the A’s “may be the fastest player in this 2016 class,” Feinstein said. “He has bat speed and the ability to stay in center field.”

Brito, whose brother Anthony plays in the Rockies organization, was rated the 13th-best international prospect by Baseball America and 23rd-best by MLB.com. Vargas was ranked 21st by MLB.com and 24th by Baseball America. Richards was ranked 39th by Baseball America.